Thinning the veil: The joy of deeper meditation comes
through uncoloring the mental obstacles that veil the true Self. While Yoga was defined in sutras 1.1-1.4,
the process of experiencing the goal of Yoga, Self-realization, begins in
this section.

Five kinds of interfering thoughts:
There are five types of interfering mental impressions (1.4)
that block the realization of the true Self (1.3): 1) knowing correctly, 2) incorrect knowing, 3)
imagination, 4) deep sleep, and 5) memory (1.5, 1.6). The
Yogi learns to witness these five kinds of thoughts with non-attachment (1.15-1.16),
discriminate between these five, and to cultivate the first type of
thought, which is knowing correctly (1.7).

They are colored or not colored:
These thought patterns may be
colored (klishta) or not-colored (aklishta) (1.5). That coloring has to
do with ignorance, I-ness, attachments, aversions, and fears (2.3).
The simple observation of whether thought patterns are colored or not
colored is an extremely useful part of the process of purifying,
balancing, stabilizing, or calming the mind so that deeper meditation can
come.

Witnessing, exploring, and uncoloring: By learning to explore
and become witness to these
five types of thoughts, and by learning to allow the coloring to fade (1.16)
through the various processes of Yoga meditation, the veil over Truth
gradually thins (1.2), and we come to experience our true
Self (1.3).

1.5
Those gross and subtle thought patterns (vrittis) fall into five
varieties, of which some are colored (klishta) and others are uncolored
(aklishta).
(vrittayah pancatayah klishta aklishta)

vrittayah = the vrittis
are

pancatayah = five fold
(and of two kinds); panch means five

klishta = colored,
painful, afflicted, impure; the root klish means to cause
trouble; (klesha is the noun form of the adjective klishta)

aklishta = uncolored,
not painful, not afflicted, pure; not imbued with kleshas; the root a-
means without or in the absence of; hence, without the
coloring called klishta

Five kinds of thoughts -
colored or not colored: This sutra introduces the nature of the
five kinds of thoughts, and the fact that they are either colored (klishta)
or not
colored (aklishta) suggests the entire process of Yoga. In that process you
gradually, systematically set aside all of the false identities that cloud
over the true Self. This uncoloring
process is an extremely important concept, and is further dealt with in
the later chapters (2.1-2.9, 2.10-2.11).

Some
thoughts are colored
with attraction or aversion,
while some other thoughts
are uncolored or neutral:

Meanings of klishta and aklishta:
The words klishta and aklishta are a pair of words that are in contrast
with one another. With the "a-" in front of klishta, it becomes
aklishta. Thus, colored (klishta) becomes uncolored
(aklishta).
Translating these as colored and not colored gives a certain meaning, or
feel to the words. The reason for emphasizing the translation of colored
and uncolored is that it can more directly be perceived as related to the
thought patterns (vrittis) that are the stuff of which the clouds over the
Self are made. In other words, the vritti is colored by the klishta
process, so to speak. It is like the way a black-and-white child's
coloring book picture might be colored by a particular water color (klishta). Framing the problem this way also suggests the solution, which
is to remove the coloring (aklishta).

Choice of word pairs:
Several other word pairs have been used to describe klishta and aklishta, and each adds a certain flavor to
the meaning. When holding the notion of colored
and uncolored for klishta and aklishta, it might be useful to remember
these other word pairs as well:

klishta -- aklishta

painful -- not
painful

not useful --
useful

afflicted -- not
afflicted

impure -- pure

troubled -- not troubled

negative -- positive

vice -- virtue

away from enlightenment
-- towards enlightenment

resulting in bondage --
resulting in freedom

Getting entangled with those thoughts:
The first four sutras described how we
come to know our true Self, and explained that when we are not
experiencing that Reality, we are identified with, or entangled with the
many levels and layers of our mental content. These entanglements are all
part of these five thought patterns, whether being one, or some
combination of the five. They are either colored or uncolored.

Thoughts are gross or
subtle: These
thought patterns are not just the day to day thoughts we experience; this
notion of thought patterns (vrittis) is both gross and also extremely
subtle. The meaning becomes gradually clearer with practice of the
methods.

Witnessing the coloring: To
observe the coloring of our thought patterns is one of the most useful
practices of Yoga, and can be done throughout the day. This meditation in
action, or mindfulness, can be of tremendous value in clearing the clouded
mind, so that during your seated meditation time, that practice can go
much deeper.

How to witness coloring: To observe the coloring of thoughts simply means that when a
thought and its emotion arises, you simply say that, "This is
colored," or "This is not colored." Similarly, to notice
whether some decision or action is useful or not useful brings great
control over your habits of mind. It is simply observing, and saying to
yourself, "This is useful," or "This is not
useful."

The process of uncoloring: Yoga
rests on the two foundations of Abhyasa and Vairagya (practice and
non-attachment; sutras 1.12-1.16).
Then the seer rests in its True nature (1.3).
Here, the subtler means of dealing directly with those attachments is
introduced, by observing that the five kinds of thought patterns are
either klishta or aklishta, colored or not colored. The process of
uncoloring the deep impressions unfolds in stages. We need to gradually stabilize the
mind and weaken the colorings, so that we might start to get some glimpses
of that which is beyond all of those thought impressions and their
colorings. To better understand the process, take a look
at the Chapter Outlines, which include the
following:

There are only five kinds
of thoughts: Of all the countless thought impressions that come into the
mind field, which form the matrix of the barrier or veil covering the true
Self or center of consciousness, they all fall into one or more of these
five categories. In other words, while there are many individual thought
impressions, there are not countless types of thoughts
to deal with, but only five. This can help greatly in seeing the
underlying simplicity of the process of Yoga, not getting lost in the
apparent multiplicity in the gross and subtle realms.

Pramana/right

Viparyaya/wrong

Vikalpa/imagined

Nidra/deep sleep

Smriti/memory

To position
the five kinds of thoughts on the fingers
is a good way of learning to remember them.

Witnessing the five kinds of thoughts:
By learning to observe the thinking process, and then to discriminate
between these five types of mental objects, we start to gain a mastery
over them, and their ability to control our actions, speech, and
thoughts.

With mastery of witnessing: As
that mastery comes within reach, we
gradually find a neutral, non-attached (1.15,
3.38) stance of witnessing, where we can observe the entire flow of
mind, while remaining peacefully undisturbed, unaffected, and
uninvolved. Meditation can systematically deepen.

Without mastery of witnessing: Without that mastery, we become victims to our own unconscious
mental process, losing free choice in external life as well as the ability
to experience deep meditation.

Pramana is the one to cultivate:
Of the five kinds of thought patterns, pramana, or correct knowledge is
the one to cultivate. The process of continually seeing ever more
clearly brings progress on the path of meditation. This process of seeing
clearly, of seeing things as they are, is one of the ways of describing
the inner journey, eventually revealing that absolute, unchanging True
Self.

1.7
Of these five, there are three ways of gaining correct knowledge
(pramana): 1) perception, 2) inference, and 3) testimony or verbal
communication from others who have knowledge.
(pratyaksha anumana agamah pramanani)

Three ways to attain
correct knowing: The first of the five kinds
of thought patterns described in the last sutra is pramana, which is real
or valid cognition, right knowledge, valid proof, seeing clearly. Here, in
sutra 1.7, three different ways are described about how one acquires that correct
knowing. These are direct perception, reasoning, and validation. Each of
them are valid, and standing alone can provide correct knowing, though you
want the three to be in agreement. This description of correct
knowing applies both to mundane ways of knowing, such as seeing objects in
the external world, and to spiritual insights on the inner journey.

Seek experience, not mere
belief: In the oral Yoga tradition,
it is said that you should not believe what you hear, but should seek
direct experience. This is the meaning of the first of these three ways of
knowing. The second part is that of reasoning, whereby you want that
experience to be understood in the light of your own inference or
reasoning. The third part is that you seek the validation through some
respected authority or testimony. This might be a textual authority, such
as the Yoga Sutras, or some respected person who has first hand
knowledge.

Getting these three to
converge: When you can get these three
to converge, meaning that experience, reasoning, and authoritative
validation all agree with one another, then you know, and you know that
you know, in regard to any particular aspect of the inner journey. Thus,
this sutra is an extremely practical tool for the inner journey.

What if the three have
not converged?: Consider the alternatives of
these three converging. Often, people will have some experience with their
spiritual journey, and have no understanding of what has happened, nor any
validation. This can be frustrating and fearful, and can leave one
wandering, feeling lost for a very long time. If the experience were
understood and validated, it could be integrated and used as a stepping
stone to more advanced spiritual insights. If one has only logical
reasoning, but no experience or validation, it can lead to mere
intellectualizing. If one only has the authoritative knowledge, without
personal understanding or experience, it can lead to cold memorization,
such as can happen in academia or blind faith religion.

Seek each, and also
convergence: For the sincere seeker,
direct experience, reasoning, and validation are all three sought in
relation to the inner journey, and in such a way that there is a
convergence of the three.

Incorrect knowing:
Perceiving a thing as being other than what it really is.

Classic
examples: A classic example of the shifting perception is the Rubin
Vase, which is both a picture of a vase and a picture of two faces at the
same time. Two classic examples are given by the Yogis for the misperception
called viparyaya. First is the mistaking of a rope for a snake when the
light is low, such as the twilight hours between day and night. The rope is
always a rope, although the mind misperceives it in the moment. The second
is similar, and is mistaking a post in the distance as being a man standing
in the shadows.

Clearing many levels of misperception:
During the inner journey of Yoga meditation, there are many currents and
crosscurrents that are explored and examined (2.1-2.9,
2.10-2.11, 3.9-3.16,
4.9-4.12). One way of describing this
process is that we are trying to see where we have made mistakes in
perception (viparyaya), and are trying to see clearly (pramana, 1.7).
Then we can transcend that object in the mind field, getting past the four
forms of ignorance, or avidya (2.5),
and experiencing our true Self (1.3).

Observe the misperceptions of daily
life: If the reason we are not experiencing our true nature (1.3)
is the clouding of false identities (1.4),
then we want to become adept at noticing the ways in which we are not
seeing clearly, so as to correct the misperceptions. For most of us, this
process of mistaken identity is easily done in daily life.

Relationships with people: Recall
how often you see some situation or person to be one way, only to later discover that there was some missing piece of information that
changes your perception
completely. For example, imagine you see a friend or co-worker who has a
scowl rather than a smile, and whose attitude might seem negative towards
you. That person may actually be angry from having had an argument with a
family member, and the reaction had nothing to do with you.

Misperceptions can cause colorings:
The problem with these misperceptions is that they can lead to the
colorings, kleshas (1.5, 2.1-2.9).
If they were simply misperceptions with no coloring, there would be no
problem. But imagine the potential of the misperceptions of relationships
with people, as in the example above. The result might be increased
egoism, attractions, aversions, or fears. Thus, we want our misperceptions
(viparyaya) to become correct perceptions (pramana, 1.7).

1.9
Fantasy or imagination (vikalpa) is a thought pattern that has verbal
expression and knowledge, but for which there is no such object or reality
in existence.
(shabda jnana anupati vastu shunyah vikalpah)

There is no perceptible
reality: Our minds are often thinking and creating chains of words and
images. Often this process leads to thoughts or impressions that have no
actual reality. The two kinds of thoughts discussed in the past two sutras
both related to realities, whether seen clearly (1.7) or
not clearly (1.8). However, vikalpa has no such
corresponding reality, whether seen clearly or not.

Classic example: A
classic example that the Yogis use is that of the horns of a rabbit. A
rabbit does not have horns, although it can easily be conceptualized. The
thought and the image are there, but there is no corresponding reality.

With objects and people:
It seems to be a habit of the human mind to form all sorts of fantasy ideas
in relation to objects and people. I might fantasize having this or that
object, doing or saying something with some person, or creating in my mind
field both the objects and the people. For example, with the real objects and people in
my world, I might even create the fantasy idea that these are mine.
The mental impressions of the objects and people might be real (1.7)
or misperceived (1.8), but the impressions related to the
concept mine are complete fantasy, or vikalpa.

Living in the future: Often we
speak of a thought process, which is one of living in the future. The mind
is really taking the current thoughts, rearranging them this or that way,
and then fantasizing some new combination as being the future, even
though that fantasy is occurring in the present moment.

Vikalpa and avidya: It
is useful to reflect on the relationship between this fantasy process of
mind and the four forms of ignorance (avidya) that are described in sutra
2.5.

Creativity: While we
are talking about how to deal with the thought patterns of the mind (1.2)
so as to attain Self-realization (1.3),
it is important to note that these mental processes are not bad in the
context of life and the world. The same fantasy or vikalpa that clouds over
our true Self is also the creative mind that finds solutions to problems in
the external world or at our personality level of being. It is even the
vikalpa that creates the helpful lifestyle and environment in which we live
so as to be able to do our meditations.

The subtler examples:
Eventually, as meditation deepens, we come to see ever more clearly that
virtually our whole perception of external and internal reality is vikalpa,
a product of imagination. Notice that even the root of the word imagination
is image; countless images are produced, stored, and then arise. Even
the subtleties of the five elements (earth, water, fire, air, space), the
cognitive and active senses (indriyas), and
the four functions of mind are
products of this process of vikalpa. This is the process of subtle
discrimination in the later sutras.

1.10
Dreamless sleep (nidra) is the subtle thought pattern which has as its
object an inertia, blankness, absence, or negation of the other thought
patterns (vrittis).
(abhava pratyaya alambana vritti nidra)

vritti = operations,
activities, fluctuations, modifications, changes, or various forms of
the mind-field

nidra = deep sleep

Mind focuses on the
object called sleep: It is as if sleep is a
process whereby the mind is focusing on absence itself, as if that
non-existence were an object itself. Metaphorically, it is as if the mind
is focused on a black, fuzzy object that is set against a black field.
There is something there for the mind to be focused on, yet, in the sense
of what we normally consider to be an object, there is nothing
there.

Mind typically rests on a
support: Normally the mind rests, or focuses on some object. This is
the meaning of the word alambana. Thus, nidra, or sleep, is the
state where attention is focused on, or absorbed in that object of
negation or voidness itself.

Sleep is the absence of the
other four: When any one of the other types of thought patterns is present,
the mind is usually engaged or entangled in those images. When all four of them
subside, or when the mind is not involved in them, there comes the state of
sleep. Alternatively, when one is free from all five of them, and remains
conscious, that is samadhi.

Sleep is actually an
object: This might, at first glance, seem to be an insignificant
point, but it is actually rather important. Remember the principle in the
first few sutras (1.2-1.4) that the
reason we do not experience the eternal Self, is that consciousness is
entangled with other objects. When we see that entering sleep is a process
of focusing on still one more object, it becomes clearer why we want to
remain in the waking state for meditation, while learning to let go of the
intervening objects, including sleep, which is like that black, fuzzy
object. In meditation, we focus on one object, intentionally, so that at
some point we can let go of all objects, and experience the objectless
state beyond all of the objects.

In another sense, sleep
is a level, not an object: When we translate these words of meditation
science from Sanskrit to English, we can unintentionally end up with some
confusion. Here, nidra is translated as sleep. However, in
considering the levels of consciousness, the domains of gross, subtle, and
causal, that deeper level is called prajna,
which is a level of supreme (pra) knowledge (jna). This too is considered
to be the level of deep sleep. Thus, we are using the word sleep in two
compatible, though different ways. If you know this, there is no
confusion. The Yoga of the Yoga Sutras is very practical, and here the
emphasis is on contrasting the attention getting wrapped around this
vritti (thought pattern) of sleep, as in contrast to the other four types
of vrittis.

Mastering false identity
with sleep: When we talk about mastering the mental process in
relation to entanglement with objects or fantasies, it can make sense,
even at a more surface level of understanding. In relation to sleep, it is
important to note that we want to move towards disidentification even with
that object, just like the others. Then, again, the true Self comes
shining through.

Do not mistake sleep for
samadhi: The higher samadhi is without any object that has form, which
has sometimes been described as void. It is a big mistake to confuse that
samadhi with the void of other objects that comes with deep sleep. These
two are very different experiences.

1.11
Recollection or memory (smriti) is mental modification caused by the inner
reproducing of a previous impression of an object, but without adding any
other characteristics from other sources.
(anubhuta vishaya asampramoshah smritih)

anubhuta = experienced

vishaya = objects
of experience, impressions

asampramoshah = not
being stolen, not being lost, not having addition

smritih = memory,
remembering

Memory can take on
associations: Memory is something with which we are all familiar. Some
previously stored impression simply awakens, stirs in the unconscious, and
then springs forth into the conscious awareness, having pierced the veil
between conscious and unconscious. However, a rising memory often brings
along with it many other memories that then get linked in such a way that
the original memory is not seen in its pure form. In other words, the
memory is being distorted; it is commingled with the other types of
thought patterns.

Mere memory is less of a
block to meditation: The memory being described here is the pure
memory, without having stolen, or had additions from other memories or the
creative, fantasizing, hallucinating process of mind. It is quite natural
for these thought impressions to rise in the mind field. By discriminating
between the types of thoughts, we can see which are simply memories, and
which are memories that have become distorted and effectively turned into
fantasies, which are vikalpa, described in sutra 1.9. Mere memory is not
so disturbing to our natural peace of mind, whereas when associated with
all of the other inner process, leads to the troublesome mental process
that blocks deep meditation.

This site is devoted to
presenting the ancient Self-Realization path of
the Tradition of the Himalayan masters in simple, understandable and
beneficial ways, while not compromising quality or depth. The goal of
our sadhana or practices is the highest
Joy that comes from the Realization in direct experience of the
center of consciousness, the Self, the Atman or Purusha, which is
one and the same with the Absolute Reality.
This Self-Realization comes through Yoga meditation of the Yoga
Sutras, the contemplative insight of Advaita Vedanta, and the
intense devotion of Samaya Sri Vidya Tantra, the three of which
complement one another like fingers on a hand.
We employ the classical approaches of Raja, Jnana, Karma, and Bhakti
Yoga, as well as Hatha, Kriya, Kundalini, Laya, Mantra, Nada, Siddha,
and Tantra Yoga. Meditation, contemplation, mantra and prayer
finally converge into a unified force directed towards the final
stage, piercing the pearl of wisdom called bindu, leading to the
Absolute.